


The depth of despair

by hunnyB



Series: RWBY Fanfictions Volume 8 [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, Fights, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Reunions, Salem's experiments, Silver Eyes, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Summer Rose (RWBY) Lives, Team RWBY against the Hound, Volume 8 (RWBY), Yangst, but at what cost, kind of I think, the Second Hound, written before v8 ep10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29898594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunnyB/pseuds/hunnyB
Summary: Ruby leans heavily on Crescent Rose, leader's senses tingling as she checks on each of her teammate's state, coming off not really pleased. "How can a Grimm be so tough?" she complains."It can't." Blake replies, shoulders hunched forward and muscles throbbing inimicaly."It shouldn't." Yang corrects.****Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang are back together, but their reunion is nothing sweet as they battle with the Hound and discover the cruelest reality.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee & Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose & Summer Rose, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long, Summer Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Series: RWBY Fanfictions Volume 8 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198331
Comments: 9
Kudos: 54





	The depth of despair

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo yeah, I've been working on this fic for a month and didn't have time to upload it until now, but after *Light Spoiler Chapter 11* the talk Ruby and Yang had in the last episode I feel like I'm emotional enough to do it.  
> No more delay! I wish you a good read. <3
> 
> Follow me on twitter (@FirecrackerKoG) and come cry with me for this show!

The bright, shattered moon and twinkling stars highlighted by the pretty, navy backdrop of nighttime have long disappeared from view for the citizens of Atlas. The sky has turned unnaturally dark, the purplish shade of wine staining the clouds like an eerie modern work of art, shades of colours melting and combining and shaking under the force of lightning and thunders.

Inside the main hall of the Schnee Manor, arising in the highest spot of the floating city, four girls stand on shaking limbs, the air thick with their disjointed breathing as each of them tries to satiate their hungry lungs and recover from an apparently endless fight. There's no sign of victory in their beaten faces in that beat of silence, because they're aware, gaze set on a pile of debris, that it isn't over yet.

As if on clue, an animalistic howl erupts from underneath the pile and their stagnant defeated expressions only intensifies - wide, tired eyes fixed on the emerging creature and limbs falling in position by rote.

Long, dark arms bend in an unhuman way, generating the loud crack and squelch their ears got already used to, but that still awake that disgusting, gut-wrenching sensation of uneasiness in their stomach.

"How can it still be-" Weiss stops as she feels the dryness pinching her throat and has the need to take a breath. She's too tired to create a coherent phrase, let alone keep fighting after going through so much both psysically and mentally. From having to face her family and arrest her _father_ , to opposing Ironwood, escaping its special squad and fighting enemies after enemies, meanwhile having not slept for the past 48 hours.

And then, as if things weren't bad already, here they are fighting this new Grimm with Human-like intelligence and cunning and the ability to grow limbs. And speak.

Ruby leans heavily on Crescent Rose, leader's senses tingling as she checks on each of her teammate's state, coming off not really pleased. "How can a Grimm be so tough?" she complains.

"It can't." Blake replies, shoulders hunched forward and muscles throbbing inimicaly.

"It shouldn't." Yang corrects. She heavies out a deep breath, stretching her legs wide and pulling her arms up as she falls back in her fighting stance, eyeing the beast attentively. Her blood rushes underneath her skin and though she struggles to concentrate because of her sore body and pulsing mind, Yang focuses on her surrounding - like her father taught her.

The Hound growls and they tighten their grip on their weapons. Ruby at this point struggles simply to hold her scythe up, but she can't hesitate because the Grimm charges straight at her. She swings Crescent Rose to the side and then forward to deviate the blow coming her way, and she only manages to soften the hit before she's inevitably overpowered.

Blake fires some shoots and the beast slows down for a split-second, but it's enough for Yang to get in between and shield her sister from the pawn aiming at her, blocking it mid-air with her prosthetic. The Hound lifts its other arm up as well on the blonde but a long, white sword protects Yang from the incoming attack. Backing off, Yang's expression morphs into a grateful smile she gifts Weiss and then shifts back to seriousness when she glances at Ruby, her sister shouting orders about trying to hack its arms off and take it to its limits. After various - failed - attempts, Yang slams it on the ground, Weiss chains it down with her gravity glyph, Blake holds one arm up with Gambol Shroud's ribbon and Ruby strikes with her scythe.

The arm falls off, but none of them dares feel the slightest bit relieved. A dark liquid squirts out of the wound and it's not even suprising - maybe just daunting - to see the limb growing back where it has been cut.

"Must be good to be a Grimm." Yang jokes, but her humorless tone and the sharp undercurrent of her words betray the playfulness of the moment. Blake knows it's not dicrected at her, but she can't help but flinch at the unexpected comment.

This time around, though, as the beast howls and tosses awfully in the cold grip, the new arm extends to half the lenght it reached before.

A modest but nonethless present spark of hope flares in the pit of their stomach and they nod at each other.

The silence is soon cut off along with Weiss' imposed gravity and once free, the beast moves faster and more frenetically, and in the span of the blink of an eye it grabs Blake in its clutches and tosses her away, the purple Aura flickering dangerously.

"Blake!"

Ruby doesn't dare look back at her teammate no matter how worried she is because the hollow gaze shifts on her, the head twitching with a loud crack as it turns swiftly in her direction, mouth falling open.

**_"Take. The. Girl."_ **

A quaesy weight sets on Ruby's stomach as the Grimm bounces on its legs to launch itself straight up in the air toward Ruby and she is frozen in the spot - she's too tired to even rely on her Semblance - but the beast collapses on the floor inches apart from her, revealing her sister on top.

"Weiss! Pin it down!" she screams, and soon a thick layer of ice envelops the beast's limbs. Yang tilts her head up, lips parting around an order that goes lost as a cry erupts from the beast's throat the moment Ruby cuts through the dark skin with Crescent Rose.

Yang leapts down the monster's back and glances at her sister with the corners of her lips hinting an amused smile.

When she turns around she sees, unsurprisingly, the dark liquid leak out and rush to regenerate the lost piece, reaching an even shorter lenght than before, but before it can fully grow a thinner pawned hand Gambol Shroud chops it off again.

Team RWBY can't stop the tiny, smug smirks threatening to creep across their beaten faces from bursting into being as Blake lands on her feet in front of them. They all stare at the howling beast, exploiting that time to breath in some more air.

This time, it grows no hand.

But the thick ice holding it down cracks and shatters in one swift movement and the emerging head twirls unhumanly: the air rejoices with the tune of bones cracking and shifting into place along with the disgusting slimy noises of the dark liquid the skin is made of.

A roar echoes in the room and the lump in their throat tightens, breath hung up in a tense silence before the raging Hound snaps and starts running erratically, losing every bit of self-control and restraint it had before.

Hence, it turns straight to Ruby.

Yang knows the Hound wants Ruby, but she's also very conscious of how selflessly stupid and stubborn her sister can be at times. Yang had in a first moment decided not to waste her breath in telling her sister to hide away and not tire herself out since she knew she wouldn't have listened. But now that they're so desperate and with almost no Aura left in their bodies, Yang is starting to feel overwhelmed by her own emotions, and the first to escape her control and resurface is her sisterly protectiveness.

"Ruby, stay behind!" she yells, throwing punches after punches to drain the Grimm's attention on herself.

"Forget it!"

"Salem is trying to get to you, Ruby! Just _listen to me_!" Yang angrily insists, too focused on the battle to keep her emotions at bay and conceals her worries. In the end, it sounds more like a desperate plead than an order.

"I-I _can't_!" Ruby cries, grip tightening around the snath of Crescent Rose as the beast turns its head her way, heart squeezing anxiously.

_The Hound is there for her, how can she leave her team to battle it alone if she's the main reason they're in danger?_

The Hound rushes to her but Yang punches its side and then scissors kick its head and step away with a backflip to dodge the upcoming attack. A wall of fire parts the two of them and Yang backs off, stumbling tiredly on her feet.

There's a beat of silence where they all hold their breath, staring at the burning fire that trapped the monster, except it didn't but Yang senses the movement above her too late and she's thrown to the side before she can realize it, colliding with Weiss, both falling on the ground.

"Weiss, you okay!?" Yang asks quickly, eyes drifting between her partner being harshly thrown on the ground and her teammate whom she just unintentionally hit. Weiss' head spins a lot and she feels dizzy, eyes closed shut in fatigue as she breathes heavily, but she mumbles a quite 'yes'.

On the other part of the room Blake grunts, holding her head and swallowing down the pain as she leaverages on the wall to lift herself up.

Everyone's on the ground except for Ruby at this point, so she sees the beast chasing after her a mile away, but it still surprises her how fast and powerful it has become over the... minutes? Hours?

She dodges and shields herself from some of its blows, but her energies decrease and the monster catches up on the increasing difference faster than she had hoped. It strikes and she's too slow as the hit sends her flying across the room, her back slamming against the wall and her Aura shattering completely.

" _Shit!_ Ruby!" her sister screams, busting Ember Celica and firing herself toward the beast, using her gauntlets' recoil to strike a powerful punch on the beast's snout. She manages to land a solid jab on the side of its face before its claws wrap around her head and she's hastily tossed to the ground, her own Aura flickering frightfully close to the breaking point.

The beast heads then toward Weiss, Myrtenaster stuck on the ground with great effrort as her new summon appears from her glyph. Blake hooks Gambol Shroud around its arm and keeps it off Weiss as long as she can, but the Schnee's creature vaporizes before acquiring a stable shape. The girl leans heavily on her weapon, exhausted.

"I-I don't have enough Aura." she stutters, backing off from the monstrous hand brushing millimeters past her face. The beast growls lowly but Blake shields Weiss from the pawned hand and keeps it off of her. Though when the attack comes her way Blake's ready to respond, Yang pulls herself in between, doing the same thing she just did.

"Blake! My sister!" She yells, and Blake's not sure how but she understands exactly what she's implying. She steps aside, shifts her weapon's to its hook form and leapts to Ruby.

"We-We can't keep this for much longer." Weiss groans, raising back on her unsteady feet and panting as Yang battles it.

"We need a plan, and _fast_."

On the other side of the room, Blake holds Ruby in her arms and pulls herself and her leader on top of the stairs, slowly laying her down and sending her a worried look before jumping back in battle, landing between Weiss and Yang.

The Grimm grabs a crumbled piece of brick and crushes it in his clutches, probably harder than necessary but still threatening enough. Yang's eyes widen.

"Monochrome and Bumblebee." She instructs, and their concentrated expressions twist in concern.

"Are you sure you can?" Weiss asks her, righting herself up and wielding Myrtenaster.

"I can do it."

Blake doesn't look convinced at all but, before she can dwell on it any further, the debris are shoved their way and they fall into action. She leapts in air and uses her momentum to keep the beast's attention on her and fire; Weiss does the same on the ground with her dust.

The shooting only manages to barely make the Hound's feet slip on the floor, and once Weiss and Blake stop the creature lets out a piercing noise which ends up making both of them terribly dizzy and lose their balance. Blake lands on the floor the moment the beast hits Weiss and sends her flying through the room: the impact against the pillar is quite loud and the ex-heiress cries out in pain as her Aura shatters and she hits the ground, unmoving.

Blake grits her teeth in anger, rallying every energy and every fibre of her being still capable to fight to launch Gambol Shroud up in the air, circling the top pillar and falling back down, and she holds tightly onto the long, stretched ribbon.

The Hound shifts back in canine form and accelerates toward the two dead-tired girls, but not too many steps after something _slams_ on its side and sends it flying the same way it did with Weiss, though with doubled strenght.

Yang's Aura breaks instantly and her knees give out as she hovers on the floor, the fierce and exuberant glow of her hair and the red flames of her body dissipating the exact moment crimson vanishes behind her eyelids. Her arms tremble when her chest presses on her empty, narrow throat, turning her shallow breathing into hiccuping gasps.

Her view blurs and the corners of her eyes darken, head throbbing as if she has just bumped her forehead against the wall one hundred times.

They all take in a long breath...

The Hound rises back up.

This time it's slow and heavy, the Grimm is most likely dragging its body forward, legs unmoving and flat on the ground, meaning they must have _finally_ managed to injure it to the point it can't regenerate. But it's still alive, using its now shorter arms to pull its body toward the first living thing he senses.

_"Yang!"_

Blake's legs refuse to move and her arms shake with little effort. She tries to speak but she feels her heart on her throat and chokes on her own words. She glances at her side and sees that Weiss is conscious, but based on her state she would have probably been better off the other way.

_She can't - and won't - count how many summons Weiss pulled off this fight._

But someone has to help _Yang_. She's without her Aura, exhausted and incapable to react as the Hound steps closer and closer, until one of its pawns is thrown up in the air and the blonde can't do anything besides shut her eyes tightly and beg for it to be quick.

But a blinding light consumes the world and the pawn vanishes together with the rest of the room in pure white. Seconds later Ruby - at the bottom of the stairs - blinks the magic away and opens her eyes to see the body crumpled against the wall, head hidden from view underneath a mass of blackness.

She holds her head for a second as sleepless nights, exhaustation and lack of energy, drained from using her silver eyes, wash over her and make her head spin. Yang stumbles on her feet with a pained grunt and catches her sister mid-air, although she's uncapable to keep them up and they fall back on the floor.

"You... okay?" Yang stutters, the worry in her expression twisted in pain. She's panting - her shallow breathing deepening and her face flushing red for lack of air - and she still asks _Ruby_ if she is okay.

"Are _you_?" Ruby retorts with a humorless snort. She just woke up after losing consciousness and can't even begin to imagine what happened while she was out, especially given her sister's condition.

Yang nods. The movement is jerky since she's still retrievering her breathing, but it's enough for Ruby. She holds her close, listening as her loud and quick gasps gently soften, but her eyes subconsciously drift back up to where the beast is, driven by the quaesy feeling rolling in her stomach.

"Is it... dead?" she asks then, her voice echoing in the silent room.

"I... don't know." Blake grunts lowly, catching her breath as she wraps her arm around Weiss and lifts her up. They stagger toward the other two and as much as her limbs beg her to just drop the additional weight, Blake lowers Weiss on the ground as carefully and steadily as she can. Once she's done she grips Gambol Shroud tightly and turns to the beast. "The body didn't vanish."

There's absolutely no trace of dark smoke in the air, which meant the Grimm must be still alive. Dazed, beaten, crippled perhaps, but alive.

"Should we check?" Ruby asks, eyes catching her sister's purple ones as she slowly sits up straight, now able to regulate her breathing. Weiss does the same - or tries to, as Ruby can't help but notice the way her head swing to the side like she has no sense of balance, and she's the sudden fear she may have hit her head hard.

"I think she may have a minor concussion." Blake affirms with worry brimming her voice, helping Weiss lie down. The girl lets her and doesn't move much, but her eyes stay half-opened on her teammate.

"Jus' tired." she wails weakly.

Her voice wavers but somehow it seems to reassure Blake.

She nods softly, a small smile twirling her lips up. "Okay, she should be fine." she tells her, and Ruby sighs in light relief.

Glancing toward Weiss with the same worried - and a bit apologetic - gaze, Yang heavies out a deep breath and tries to pull herself up, but all she manages is a pained grunt escaping her lips the moment she puts pressure on her body.

 _"Shit."_ She falls back down, hands holding her chest as her raging breathing alerts the other two's attention. Blake's cat ears twirl in distress and her eyes widen, orbs filling with concern over her partner's state.

"Yang?" Ruby calls, silver drifting from her sister to the beast and back.

"I-I think..." Blake looks up at her with pleading eyes, Yang's too tired to deny anything and doesn't move when the Faunus reaches her hands to the zipper and lowers it down to her belly. Blake's cheeks flush a light red, but the blush dissipates instants later when her eyes catch the purple bruises in between her abs' lines.

Fear morphs into sheer dread and apprehension. "You injured your ribs." she states, hands trembling as she examines them.

Ruby gasps when her eyes drift on her sister's swelled skin and she looks up worried, seeing Yang struggling to breath, her forehead sweaty and cheeks red.

"I'm... fine. I-It's probably just cracked." she utters in a whimper, voice wavering and words weighing on her tongue. "W-We have to go." Violet steals a glance to where the beast is, teeth gritted in pain and eyes narrowed for the same reason, but once her eyes lock with what's behind Ruby's back, she stills.

"...Yang?"

She's cut off by a low growl.

They all turn their head toward the source of the noise, not surprised, but still frightened, to see the dark body shaking, elbows bent and twisted upward as leavarage, meaning they've finally managed to injure it for good, but not enough to get rid of it once and for all.

"It's still—" Ruby stutters, stomach twisting in distress.

**_"The. G-Girl."_ **

A shiver runs up her spine as it pulls itself up, slowly but undoubtedly. She feels the sweat cling to her body and her entire self tremble, conscious they are all too tired to do anything to even attempt to escape, especially with Weiss and Yang being unable to move.

**_"T-Take."_ **

They hold each other close and squeeze their bodies together.

**_"G-Girl."_ **

Ruby shuts her eyes tight and tears flow down her eyelashes to her cheeks and chin, staining her clothes. _"I'm sorry."_

Yang is careful to shift to stand on her knees and raise her arms shakily to fold them loosely around her sister's shoulders, arranging their position so that she doesn't lean too much on her injured chest. "Don't."

"B-But—"

"She's right." Ruby tilts her head around, emotions pooling up in her gut at the sight of Blake helping her injured partner up. Weiss is not okay, that much is clear, but she rests her head on Blake's shoulder and smiles up at Ruby, conscious and reassuring. "You've nothing to apologize for." she assures, and Ruby weeps a little more, love and affection embracing her cold, tired body. She reaches her hand toward Weiss' and grasps it, intertwining their fingers in silent comfort.

As Weiss and Ruby comfort each other, the beast twirls around and Blake gasps, sudden confusion flickering in her voice as amber fixes on the Grimm's large white mask slowly falling apart. Yang follows her line of sight. "T-There's something..."

A strained, watery gasp leaves Yang's lips as she makes eye contact with something that has her eyes grow wide and brim with tears. Ruby's dripping silver shift from her partner to peer up at her sister and then at the beast - except that from her body's angle all she can see is something emerging from its cracked mouth, but Ruby can't quite put her things on it either because it's too hidden or because she's too scared.

But before she can turn or look into it any further, strong arms push her back against a solid chest so abruptly that the person in question chocks on a pained gasp, and Ruby knows it's her sister.

"W-What—"

She once again hesitantely glances up at her sister and doesn't know if it's Yang's heart hammering direclty on her ear, her tired body growing exaggerately stiff against her own, or the brief glimpse she caught of her face - the embodiment of horror and sorrow in all their forms - that suggests her she probably saw what's inside the Hound's mouth.

Yang doesn't speak, but keeps her so close that Ruby can count the fast beats of her pounding heart and wraps her arms fully around the smaller head as if she wants to hide her from the world. Or the world from her.

Worry flares in her eyes.

"Yang what's—"

"Don't move." Thousands of emotions bubble up in her unsteady voice, but the thing that scares Ruby the most is that she feels her sister giving up on trying to conceal them and instead let them flow deliberally past her lips, something she's always tried to avoid doing with Ruby.

Blake and Weiss' gaze - full of horror and shock at the sight of the _human_ head emerging from a _Grimm_ \- hardens in puzzlement as they look at Yang, purple mirroring their emotions and so, so many _others_ they can't fully grasp.

"Yang?" Blake calls her, heart hammering anxiously at her partner's behaviour.

"Don't say anything!" she cries, _begs_.

Ruby's own heart picks up and she shivers. "But Yang—"

" _Don't!_ " Ruby stills.

She's never heard her sister be so blunt with her - never did Yang in her life actually raise her voice to Ruby - and even in the haziness of the moment she understands that whatever her sister saw in that Grimm must have shaken her.

Yang hardly gets scared, especially to this point.

What—

**_"R-Ruby."_ **

Their body leap with fright. At this moment, every train of thought Ruby has instantly turns to nothing and the shock washes everything out of her mind.

**_"Y-Yang."_ **

Slow but crushing realization creeps across her face, big eyes growing wider. She distantly feels Yang's arms tighten around her head, covering her ears and drawning her closer, and her body follows, falling limp against her hold.

**_"T-Tai."_ **

Yang is shaking but she doesn't let go.

Ruby feels like throwing up and hastily swallows the bile in her throat.

The gruesome and growling voice of the Hound is unmistakable, but the quiet whimpers underneath it sound painfully familiar. Awfully human. Sickeningly _feminine_.

The young huntress chokes on her breath, eyes stinging.

Yang drifts her eyes up from Ruby to see the Hound lurching toward them with its clawed dark hand and narrow fingers, but this time it shows a well-known face - long dark hair fading to red and the familiar soft features replaced by scars and black marks and _empty eyes_.

A sickening sensation of uneasiness and discomfort diffuse in her stomach and rises up in her throat, and she suddenly feels the urge to vomit, but swallows the bile back down when she remembers _Ruby's right here, she comes first, Yang can't let her turn around and see—_

...See what Salem did to Summer Rose after 15 years of thinking she was dead.

Now Yang wishes it had stayed like that.

 _"Yang."_ Ruby has not enough control over her voice to keep it from exuding the agony and fright she's feeling and it comes out rasp and thick with tears. She pulls on her sister's clothes and tries to escape her grip because she has to _see_ , she _needs_ to—

"Don't— Don't look." Yang quivers, tucking her head under her chin and obscuring every chance Ruby has to look through and see for herself.

"Yang _please_!" she tries harder, using both her hands to try and pull herself off. Between their bodies squished together and Ruby's fighting her off Yang has to grit her teeth and swallow down the pain of her ribs to focus instead on her aching heart, and it doesn't matter how much it hurts, she keeps her tight grip on Ruby.

" _Ruby._ " she pleads, chocking on her breath as pain spreads fast in her body - a mixture between her physical and emotional turmoil. " _Stop._ "

Ruby shivers but Yang insists, and she soon understands how much her sister is _determined_ to not let go, at any cost.

Ruby takes in a deep breath and hiccups, fingers slowly but surely uncurling from her jacket as a distant voice in the back of her head remembers her her sister is seriously injured, but the moment she tries to back off Yang's grip tightens and she whispers a firm 'i'm here'.

Ruby crumbles.

She grips her clothes once again, just as tightly, except this time she's not trying to pull away and instead shoves her face further against her sister's chest, deliberately trying to drown in her warmth and eludes the world's coldness.

" _Yang._ " she weeps and Yang is injured and tired but she pulls Ruby closer nonethless, bodies shaking simultaneously.

"I'm here." she answers breathlessly. A heart wrenching sob reaches her ears and she's not sure if it comes from her mouth or from her sister's because tears are streaming down both their cheeks and chins and it's messy, it's excruciating, it's _too much_.

_"Y-Yang."_

"I'm here." she repeats and buries her face in her locks, maybe to keep her close or maybe to quieten her own weeps.

'Death is not the worst thing that can happen to men.' her uncle told her once.

Yang just wishes she had been more prepared.


End file.
